The early bird catches the worm –- that’s not true for all human beings. Because, the inner clock is ticking differently in any person. While larks love to start into the day early, owls are rather active during the evening and find it rather difficult to get going in the early hours of the day. The sleeping expert Dr. med. h.c. Guenther W. Amann-Jennson knows, how the so-called owls will find it easier to start into the day.
The modern world of working is perfect for the larks. Because, contrary to the owls they are absolute morning people with their high in performance from 08.00 am to about 12.00 am. This makes the morning the perfect time for them to handle with difficult work. From lunchtime, the performance curve is going down and most of the time, the morning persons get so tired at around 09.00 p.m., that they like to go to bed.
Owls – birds of the night
It looks quite different with the owls. They only really come to life in the evenings and go to bed at midnight or even later. Their performance curve slowly and steadily rises after getting up, is showing its first high at around 04.00 p.m. and is reaching its peak in the hours of the early evening. Therefore, the best time for them to deal with important, complex or mentally exhausting tasks is the afternoon.
For the so-called owls that are forced to mutate into larks because they have to be at their working place or at school early in the morning, sleeping expert Dr. h.c. Guenther W. Amann-Jennson has the following hints:
• No matter, whether being a lark or an owl: a regular rhythm is very important for healthy sleeping. That means, to always go to bed and get up in the morning around the same, if possible.
• Since the sleeping phases are changing every 90 minutes from REM-sleep, light sleep and deep sleep, for “grumpies” it is worthwhile to find a time window for getting up, in which they are not in deep sleep. Out of this reason, it might pay off to set the alarm clock half an hour earlier, if need be.
• But, after waking up don’t jump out of the bed but get going slowly. Loll and stretch, get some fresh air at the open window – this gets the organism going. Alternately showering warm and cold is very stimulating, too.
• It’s advisable to have a quiet breakfast afterwards. Stress in the early hours of the morning is having an even more adverse effect on evening people.
• Daylight or a bright daylight lamp during the dark season of the year with a high blue light portion supports waking up.
• Contrary in the evening. Here it is advisable to rather soften the light, so that the evening people can come to rest, too, and are not finding stimulation. They should do without any stimulating, caffeinated drinks then, too.
• The sleeping place should be dark and cool (about 18°C) and free of electronic devices like computer, TV, phone.
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